Tension between India's civilian and military leadership has steadily increased over the past few months and now appears to be at the highest it has been in decades. In his latest fusillade, the chief of army staff, General V K Singh, has said that he was offered a Rs 14 crore bribe by a retired army officer in order to clear the purchase of a set of armoured vehicles.
'India faces a very peculiar situation where the two most honest men in the Union Cabinet are suddenly facing the charge that massive scams took place in their own departments. Is that just coincidence?'
Attacking Army chief Gen V K Singh for reportedly writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the state of affairs in the force, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi on Wednesday said this reflects "frustrations" of an individual, who had to withdraw his petition on the age row in the Supreme Court.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a ministerial panel, headed by Defence Minister A K Antony, to examine the findings of the Shunglu Committee that probed alleged irregularities in conduct of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last year.
With the army chief's allegation of bribe offer kicking up a storm, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday said he had asked General V K Singh to take action but he did not want to pursue the matter for unknown reasons.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday underwent surgery in a United States hospital for an undisclosed ailment which will keep her out of India for a month. The Congress party's announcement in New Delhi that its 64-year-old leader has been diagnosed for surgery and that general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony, her political aide Ahmed Patel and general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi will run the affairs of the party caught the country by total surprise
India is developing a 5,000 km-range Agni ballistic missile, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Monday.
Noting that the situation on the ground was "very difficult", the Congress leader said it was high time the prime minister announced a relief package for the poor and a financial stimulus for the economy.
Left parties on Monday decided to extend support to the 'Bharat Bandh' called by Confederation of All India Traders on December 1 to protest the Centre's decision to allow FDI in retail.
Legendary Marxist firebrand K R Gowri, one of the founding leaders of the Communist movement in Kerala and the lone woman member in the state's first cabinet, died at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
In a sensational case, defence ministry authorities have detected alleged bugging of the office room of Defence Minister A K Antony and Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been asked to probe the matter.
Expressing "serious concerns" over Chinese military modernisation, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said India needs to carry out a "comprehensive review" of its defence preparedness and "remain vigilant" to meet its security challenges.
Lessons have been learnt from the experience in the age row involving General V K Singh but there was no strain in relations between the government and the army over the issue, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Friday.
Noting that land scams such as Sukna and Adarsh Society have projected armed forces in a "bad" light, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Wednesday that policies would be framed to bar local military authorities from directly issuing 'no objection certificates' to private realtors.
In diplomacy, like in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes. Only interests guide policy. The same principle must true for India-Russia relations in the coming Putin era, says Tarun Vijay.
India on Friday voiced concern over the 'danger and threat' of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terrorists and said it is closely monitoring the situation in the neighbourhood.
Indian Army Chief Gen V K Singh seems to have won the first round in the legal battle on the age row with the Supreme Court on Friday saying the manner in which his statutory complaint was rejected by the government "appears to be vitiated".
Laying the blame on the army's doors for the controversy over Gen V K Singh's age issue, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday said it occurred because the force kept two sets of his date of birth for 36 years and maintained there was no civil-military confrontation.
India and Pakistan need more time to resolve the "complicated" Siachen issue and have agreed to continue the dialogue process further, Defence minister A K Antony said on Friday.
The indigenisation programme of the Ministry of Defence has been an illusion, wrapped in a fallacy, cloaked in deception, writes Ajai Shukla
The indigenisation programme of the Ministry of Defence has been an illusion, wrapped in a fallacy, cloaked in deception, writes Ajai Shukla
The meeting of the GoM, according to sources, will be attended by several senior ministers, including Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telecommunication Minister Kapil Sibal.
'General Singh does not have the reputation of a greedy, grasping, man. Far from it, and his word along with the records should have carried weight with the government. Unfortunately, the pettiness of the ruling class has pushed the senior officer to a corner where not wanting to, he has had to approach the civilian courts as a last resort.'
Stepping up pressure, Congress MPs from Telangana on Tuesday sought an "early decision" from the party high command on their demand for a separate state.
India will establish a joint mechanism with China in the next few months to resolve border issues while taking steps to modernise its military infrastructure in the face of Beijing "aggressively" shoring up its defence set up along the Line of Actual Control, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday.
Against the backdrop of a terror attack on a Karachi naval base, Defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday asked the forces to maintain operational readiness as India is living in a "volatile neighbourhood".
With Army Chief Gen V K Singh dragging the government to Supreme Court over his age issue, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the matter.
Terming as a "watershed" event the killing of Osama bin Laden by the United States in Pakistan, Defence minister A K Antony on Friday said it will have a "ripple effect" in the India's "strategic neighbourhood" and asked the Armed Forces to be prepared for any eventuality.
Some terror camps in Pakistan have reinitiated operations against India which has conveyed its worries over United States military aid to Pakistan finding its way to terrorists, Army Chief Deepak Kapoor has told top American official, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
A day after calling Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi an "Amul baby", Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Monday described Defence Minister A K Antony as Kumbakarna, saying he was caught napping when terrorists attacked Mumbai.
Deepak Babaria, the All India Congress Committee secretary from Gujarat, was one of the many people on the stage before Defence Minister A K Antony's election address in Cheranalloor, Kochi.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily will oversee the smooth transition of power in Andhra Pradesh.
The Hardline Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday alleged that the statements made by Union Defence Minister A K Antony and a senior army commander in the Kashmir Valley were an indication that the Centre was planning to settle the armed forces permanently in Jammu and Kashmir.
A majority of Congress leaders said the party will face desertions if Rahul Gandhi does not remain the leader.
"We hope to introduce the new Defence Production Policy as well as the Defence Procurement Policy from January 20100. We are going to take some drastic steps to achieve our goal of speedy indigenisation," Defence Minister A K Antony announced in New Delhi on Wednesday.
How Vikhe-Patil -- who is nearly 80 years old -- will fit in with party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's agenda of installing younger leaders as chief ministers is not known.
The Defence Ministry is looking for an "alternative site" for constructing the National War Memorial as the armed forces' proposal to build it at India Gate complex has been rejected by the government.
Amidst controversy over the issue of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act from parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday said that the final decision on it would be taken by the Unified Command Headquarters in the state.
Defence Minister A K Antony, during his visit to Washington, DC, in September, bluntly told US Defence ecretary Robert Gates that India would not sign the agreements, which Washington calls the 'foundation' for transferring high-tech communications equipment to India. Ajai Shukla reports.
The reality is that Indian defence modernisation is lagging behind and the government and the present defence minister is largely responsible for the sad state of affairs today in the military realm.
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